Business and industry
Environmental impacts associated with business and industrial activities are primarily managed through licensing environmentally relevant activities, other than mining and petroleum activities, (hereafter referred to as ERAs) under the Integrated Planning Act 1997 (IPA) and the Environmental Protection Act 1994 (EP Act). Schedule 1 of the Environmental Protection Regulation 1998 (EP Reg) lists and describes the activities that are ERAs.
The ERAs are listed in the EP Reg under the same broad headings as the links in the side bar at the left of this page. These side bar links go to lists of the ERAs that link to an information page for each ERA. These pages include links to specific documents that relate to those ERAs. Other relevant documents that relate to ERAs in general, rather than specific ERAs, are also available. All these documents are available grouped by document type — operational policies, guidelines, information sheets and application forms from the links in the side bar on the right of this page.
In 2007, the Department of Natural Resources and Water declared several wild rivers under the Wild Rivers Act 2005 to preserve the natural values. For more information and guidance regarding legislative requirements under the Wild Rivers Act 2005 for applications made within declared wild river areas, please look at Activities In Wild River Areas.
For a brief overview of the process for licensing ERAs, go to the Environmentally Relevant Activities web page. An ERA must be operated under a development approval (for application forms and guidelines go to the Department of Local Government and Planning’s IPA website) or code of environmental compliance for chapter 4. In addition the operator must obtain a registration certificate. This is a new process under the EP Act, which became law with amendments to EP Act commencing 4 October 2004.
There are two levels of ERAs:
- Level 1 ERAs are considered to present a higher risk to the environment
and require the operator to hold a development approval under the IPA and
a registration certificate under the EP Act. There is an annual fee for level
1 ERAs.
- Level 2 ERAs are considered to present a lower risk to the environment than level 1 ERAs and require the operator to hold a development approval under the IPA and a registration certificate under the EP Act. There are no ongoing fees for level 2 ERAs.
The administration and enforcement of ERAs is shared between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and local governments, with the exception of cattle feedlotting (ERA 2) and pig farming (ERA 3), which are delegated to the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries. The information sheet Environmentally relevant activities devolved to local governments lists the ERAs devolved to local government. An activity is not devolved to the local government if the activity:
(a) includes a non-devolved ERA at the same place; or
(b) is carried out by a local government or the State; or
(c) is a mobile and temporary ERA and is carried out in more than one local government area.
If you are thinking about starting a business, the EPA recommends you log onto the Queensland Government's Smart Licence website or telephone them on 1300 363 711.
Last updated: 11 September 2007
